My welchs is bitter

[edenri]

I chose a welch's recipe to start with, and today I racked it into a secondary. It fermented in a primary, only covered with a cloth, for 7 days, I tasted it and it was really bitter, will this get better?

The SG was about 1.100 and now reads 1.000. I think that sounds about right?

Should I have added a campden tablet during primary? Did something go sour on me?

Sorry more questions, should I be concerned with degassing right now? Can I just shake it up a bit? Finally I planed on racking again in about 2 wks, is that about right?

Btw-I used white grape juice

 

[bigjohnmilford]

this sounds like a job for Yooper.

 

[Yooper]

Could you post the recipe and the process you used? That would help us figure out what's going on. Depending on your recipe, this might finish at .990-.996 or so.

And could you define the flavor better, besides bitter? Any sourness or tartness, or any yeasty flavor? Bitter doesn't usually signal infection, but if you never used campden, it's possible that some wild yeast or bacteria got into it.

Don't shake it up now- once it's in secondary, keep it airlocked so it doesnt' oxidize especially if you never used any campden tablets. There shouldn't be any reason to degas it. Just rack it when you have 1/4 inch of sediment or so- maybe every 30 days or so. I'd suggest using one campden tablet (crushed and dissolved) per gallon at every other racking.

 

[edenri]

I'll try to keep this short:

3 cans of welchs white grape (100%)
1/2 tsp bentonite(dissolved in hot water)
1 cup sugar(dissolved in hot water)
2 tsp acid blend
1 tsp yeast nutrient(added at room temp)
enough water to equal about 1 gallon
a few drops of pectin enzyme solution (I didn't find the powder form)

all water was boiled prior to use. I let sit 12 hours, then activated champagne yeast(1packet), added, and stirred. All this was done in primary bucket. I stirred for the first few days, then let sit (all the time covered with cloth).

Seven days later is where I am now. It's been racked, I did not stir, I left all the sediment behind. I also did add 1 crushed campden tablet when I racked.

The flavor (I'll do my best here). Sort of sour, like drinking a tart juice.? I mean it does taste like wine, I'm just hoping the final product is alot smoother. The smell is definetly yeasty. Is it something I can sweeten later? (if its ok)

The recipe was pretty much adapted from various ones, I found so many different ones and each one varied slightly. So I tried just to follow the basic steps of making wine.

 

[Yooper]

Well, that really looks ok. I don't see anything that would give you a bitter taste- but when the juice ferments (and the sugar is gone), it often tastes quite tart. Also, 2 tsp of acid blend will add quite a bit of sourness.

I think that you'll be happier in 30 days. Just let it sit and rack when you have lees like I mentioned earlier. I would assume it's fairly clear already?

After it sits a bit, and clears (and like I said it might finish as low as .990), you can stabilize it with some campden and sorbate with the final racking. And then, after it's sorbated, you can sweeten to taste with some sugar or even honey or some fruit juice if you'd like. How I like to sweeten is to take a sample and sweeten it until I'm happy with it. Then I take the sg of my sample, and sweeten the whole batch to that sg. One word of caution, though- it seems like it tastes sweeter after about a month in the bottle. So, sweeten it just under where you like it.

I think you'll have a decent drinking wine before you know it. I think a little bit of age will really make a difference.

 

[edenri]

Thanks Yooper! I'm looking forward to it. Maybe now I can start the Red Grape.

 

[Yooper]

The one I posted (under recipes under my avatar) is pretty good. It's easy, too!

 

[edenri]

I did read that one, but to be honest I was a bit confused on one part. It's all done in a secondary carboy? I won't even use a bucket then?

 

[Yooper]

Well, I just use a glass jug (the Carlo Rossi 4L jug) but you can make it in a bucket if you want. There isn't any reason it has to be in the jug- just that I only make 1 gallon at a time, so that's the right size for me. I don't airlock it anyway until the ferment slows down.